Find out why did Toyota leave the formula one back in 2009?
The Japanese car brand Toyota tried its luck in F1 but it failed. Toyota F1 entered the world of Formula One back in 2002 but was forced to leave space just seven years later. Upon entering the F1 world, Toyota was considered to be one of the biggest potential threats to other teams because of the enormous resources they brought in.
The team were manufacturers of their own power unit as well and had the financial resources to back everything they set out to do. But things did not go as planned for the Japanese car manufacturers team. After setting up sky-high hopes for themselves the Toyota F1 team eventually had to withdraw from the F1 seven years later in 2009. But why was it forced to leave F1? Let’s find out.
What made Toyota leave Formula One?
As mentioned earlier, Toyota joined Formula One with enormous resources. However, they failed to actually capitalize on it. From the period of 2002 to 2009, the time Toyota was in F1 they failed to win a single race. The Japanese team entered a total of 140 races but did not win any.
In their tenure, the team only managed to gain 13 podiums and earn just 278.5 points. The sub-par performances and no success on the track were one of the factors that played into Toyota deciding to leave F1. Apart from this financial setbacks also played a huge role in Toyota’s decision to leave F1.
From the point they entered F1 to the point they left, the team accumulated sky-high losses. The team’s total losses accounted to roughly $8.3 billion. Both of these factors combined forced Toyota to call it quits in the Formula One world. Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda in a press conference said (h/t Reuters):
“This was a difficult but ultimately unavoidable decision, since last year with the worsening economic climate, we have been struggling with the question of whether to continue in F1. We are pulling out of Formula One completely. I offer my deepest apologies to Toyota’s many fans for not being able to achieve the results we had targeted.”
Are Toyota planning to comeback to Formula One?
After having a disastrous run in Formula One, it is safe to say that there are no plans of returning to F1 by Toyota. The company happens to be the world’s biggest car manufacturer and is not short of resources. When they entered F1 they set an annual budget of $300 million, which was one of the highest. However, they understood that money is not everything in the sport. So because of the same, Toyota currently has no plans of returning to Formula One as of now.
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